On June 9th, 2015, the Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Trade initiated a safeguard investigation on imports of paper in rolls and paper in reams.The products subject to investigation are classified under the following HS codes: 4802.5590 (paper in rolls) and 4802.5790 (paper in reams).This follows the application lodged by Med Paper.According to the UN Comtrade Database, in 2013 (no data available yet for 2014) the following countries exported goods classified under HS code subheadings 4802.55 and 4802.57 to Morocco with a trade value over the GTA threshold of USD 1 million: Portugal, Finland, Spain, Germany and France.

On 7 June 2016, the Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Trade imposed a definitive safeguard duty on imports of the subject good. The rate of duty until 31 December 2016 is 25%; between 1 January and 31 December 2017 is 22.5%; between 1 January and 31 December 2018 is 20%; between 1 January and 31 December 2019 is 17.5%; and between 1 January and 30 June 2020 is 15%. A number of developing countries are exempted from this duty.

On 11 January 2017, the Moroccan authorities notified the WTO that the notified safeguard duty, as also stipulated above, is amended. The safeguard duty will enter into force on 1 January 2017 and will be gradually be liberalised over a period of four years. The rate of duty from 1 January 2017 to 31 December 2017 is an additional ad valorem duty of 25% not applying to an annual quota of 18,000 tonne. The rate of duty from 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2018 is an additional ad valorem duty of 22.5% not applying to an annual quota of 19,000 tonne. The rate of duty from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2019 is an additional ad valorem duty of 20% not applying to an annual quota of 20,500 tonne. The rate of duty from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2020 is an additional ad valorem duty of 15.5% not applying to an annual quota of 22,500 tonne.